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Rajasthan government announces Maternity benefits for the second child
Key features
- Government of Rajasthan has announced a maternity benefit scheme for four districts in the State on a pilot basis under which it will offer ₹6,000 for the birth of the second child
- The scheme will be implemented in Udaipur, Pratapgath, Banswara and Dungarpur where nutrition indicators among children and anaemia levels among mothers are worse than the average for the State
- The State scheme will complement the Central government’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana which offers ₹5,000 for the birth of the first child.
- The Rajasthan government scheme is called Indira Gandhi Matritva Poshan Yojana, and was announced by the Chief Minister recently.
- Under this scheme, beneficiaries will receive cash in three or five instalments upon meeting certain conditions.
- However, unlike the Central scheme they will not have to submit an Aadhaar card for the State scheme and the money will be transferred directly to their bank accounts.
A brief note on Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
It is a Maternity Benefit Programme that is implemented in all the districts of the country in accordance with the provision of the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Objectives
- Providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentive s so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.
- The cash incentive provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW& LM)
Target beneficiaries
- All Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, excluding PW&LM who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or PSUs or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.
- All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who have their pregnancy on or after 01.01.2017 for first child in the family.
- The date and stage of pregnancy for a beneficiary would be counted with respect to her LMP date as mentioned in the MCP card.
- Case of Miscarriage/Still Birth :
- A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once.
- In case of miscarriage/still birth, the beneficiary would be eligible to claim the remaining instalment(s) in event of any future pregnancy.
- Thus, after receiving the 1st instalment, if the beneficiary has a miscarriage, she would only be eligible for receiving 2nd and 3rd instalment in event of future pregnancy subject to fulfilment of eligibility criterion and conditionalities of the scheme. Similarly, if the beneficiary has a miscarriage or still birth after receiving 1 st and 2nd instalments, she would only be eligible for receiving 3rd instalment in event of future pregnancy subject to fulfilment of eligibility criterion and conditionalities of the scheme.
- Case of Infant Mortality: A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once. That is, in the case of infant mortality, she will not be eligible for claiming benefits under the scheme, if she has already received all the instalments of the maternity benefit under PMMVY earlier.
- Pregnant and Lactating AWWs/ AWHs/ ASHA may also avail the benefits under the PMMVY subject to fulfilment of scheme conditionalities
Source: The Hindu
